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Introducing: Etham

This UK-based up-and-comer has been racking up millions of streams with his unique brand of heartbreak-pop.

Who?

21-year-old singer-songwriter Etham.

The sound

“Burning is basically a story about my dysfunctional relationship with love. It’s about an ex-girlfriend and how it just kinda fell apart”, says Etham of his latest single, the bruising Burning.

Burning is the singer’s latest release of a run of singles that has taken Etham to the brink of superstardom.

There’s no mistaking this is pop music at its very core, but what stands out the most is Etham’s emotional maturity. Each track he’s released so far feels immensely personal, and there’s a deep underlying sadness throughout. You get the feeling that Etham has gone through some personal strife in his life, and music is how he copes with it.

The story

Starting out by recording covers and posting them to YouTube, Etham received a huge boost when Shawn Mendes shared the musician’s cover of Erik Hassle’s Hurtful to his legions of Twitter followers.

After a fierce bidding war, the singer-songwriter was snapped up by Mendes’ label Virgin EMI, who quickly set out recording his debut EP.

Better Now dropped in 2018 and became a huge viral success, racking up over five million streams.

Etham built on the success of his debut the follow up Stripped EP, which after dropping in February has also become a huge streaming success. The five-song release, which features Etham’s songs stripped back to their bare bones, hence the title, demonstrates in 17 minutes why so many are tipping the 21-year-old for success.

Recently the musician has been working in the studio with songwriters Mike Spencer (Ellie Goulding, Years & Years), Nick Atkinson and Ed Holloway (Lewis Capaldi, Dean Lewis), helping to hone his sound.

Still growing in confidence as a live performer, earlier this summer Etham hit the road for a run of dates supporting John Newman across the UK, going down a storm with the Love Me Again singer’s fanbase.

This October, Etham will hit the road for a handful of shows, including what’s sure to be a memorable London gig at OMEARA.

More essential tracks

I Wish It Was Me

Better Now

Where can I see Etham live?

Etham will perform a handful of intimate gigs in London, Leeds and Birmingham this October.